Following extensive consultations to develop new, more practical decontamination guidance, management, equipment, and process of the decontamination of dental instruments in a Local Decontamination Unit (LDU) in NHS Scotland came into force at the end of April 2024.
The best practice guidance Scottish Health Technical Memorandum (SHTM) 01-05 - management, equipment, and process of the decontamination of dental instruments in a Local Decontamination Unit in NHS Scotland, replaces relevant parts of SHTM 2010 relating to small steam sterilizers, SHTM 2030 for washer disinfectors, other previous NHS Scotland dental decontamination guidance, and the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) decontamination publications.
Please refer to the document in full, but the key messages and changes in Part C are as follows:
- Dental handpiece decontamination and lubrication should follow manufacturer’s instructions (paras. 3.5, 3.21, and 4.11)
- For washer disinfectors, potable water that meets manufacturer’s requirements is adequate, otherwise filtration is required (para 3.12)
- Use of a washer disinfector is a requirement for compliant reprocessing of dental instruments in an LDU. An ultrasonic cleaner, while useful as an additional cleaning aid, may only be used as a back-up in the event of washer disinfector failure (para. 3.13)
- Sterile water for irrigation is preferred for use in sterilizers (para. 4.15)
- Equipment records are to be retained for the lifetime of the equipment plus 25 years (paras. 5.7-5.10)
- Sterilizer Automatic Control Tests are required to be carried out weekly, no longer daily (para. 5.33)
- Policies and procedures should be reviewed and updated periodically with revisions noted (para. 6.2)
- Equipment testing schedules should follow Manufacturer’s Instructions, or if unavailable, the schedules recommended in Part C (section 5)
- New titles of personal involved in decontamination are used (Appendix 1).